Cherry Almond Cake

Many years ago.... say around 2002, I bought a loaf of cake, studded with cherries. Normally I don't quite enjoy eating glace cherries...but in that cake, it was quite delectable.

I didn't know that it's actually a 'type of cake', I thought, it's just a pound cake with 'dump-in-any-thing-you-like-to-pretty-it-up' sort of thing. Last year while surfing for recipes.... I found that, it's actually a type of cake, that is popular in the UK. You can get many variations of the recipe, mostly from UK recipe sites.

I saw Nigella has one, and seems to have pretty good reviews about it. I decided on this recipe.

The outcome was pretty.... cherries nicely scattered, crumb was beautiful... BUT DRY!!!
I wonder where did I go wrong. There was liquid, and I rinsed the cherries... I didn't bake longer than said as my oven is pretty accurate, and with most reviews saying 1 hour wasn't enough for a big loaf pan I did it in a savarin pan. So, what was the problem?

My guess will be the eggs. I think it needs one more. This recipe has more almonds than other recipes, and lesser eggs, comparatively. I should've noticed that, careless me! But then again, maybe some people enjoy it to be at that texture, maybe it's only me who finds it dry.

In the end, I rescued the cake by steaming it for 5-6 minutes. The cake turned out wonderfully moist with a tender crumb that wasn't fragile and crumbly. I kept the cake in an air tight container, and it stayed moist until we finished the cake.

every slice looks different.... I love how even the cherries are in the cake

Cherry Almond Cake

Reference: Nigella Lawson

200 gm red glace cherries
250 gm self-raising flour
225 gm salted butter (SCS)
175 gm sugar
3 large eggs ( I suggest 4)
1 tsp vanilla extract
100 gm ground almonds
6 Tbsp milk

1. Cut each cherry into quarters, or 8 pieces, but not any smaller.
2. Put cherries in a fine colander. Rinse it under running water. Shake off excess water, place the cherries on a paper kitchen towel to absorb excess moisture.
3. Mix self raising flour with ground almonds. Remove 2-3 Tbsp of the flour mixture and mix with the drained cherries. Set aside.
4. Preheat oven at 150(fan)/170C. Generously butter a 9inch Savarin pan or a 20cm chiffon pan. Dust the pan with some bread flour. Tap away excess flour.
5. Beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy, add in eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition.
6. Add in vanilla and beat for a few seconds.
7. Pour half the flour mixture in and beat on low speed until incorporated.
8. Add in all the milk and beat for a few seconds until incorporated.
9. Add in balance of flour and beat on low speed until incorporated.
10. Add in cherries and fold.
11. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, level the batter and bake for 1 hour or until skewer comes out clean.

*If cake turns out drier than how you will enjoy it, steam it like how I mentioned above.